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UNITE STATES PATENT OFFI E.

HENRY W. VAUGHAN, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN W. SLATER, OF SAME PLACE.

7' DYElNG FIBRQUS MATERIAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,080, dated May 24, 1881.

. Application filed March 5,1881. (No specimens.) Patented in France October 22, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY W. VAUGHAN,

.of the, city and'county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method or Process of Golorin g Fibrous Material; and I do hereby declare that the following specification is a full, true, and exact description thereof. 4

My present invention has reference to a new process for combining coloring ingredients used in dyeing fibrous material-suchas cotton, wool, and yarns, or fabrics made from the same--with any suitable mordant, and then developing and fastening the colors in the fibrous material, yarns, or fabrics. For an understanding of my invention, reference should be had to the Letters Patent No. 223,019, granted to me December 31, 1879, wherein it is described how cotton, wool, or other fibrous material may be colored by'having mechanically incorporated with it, during working, by the ordinary processes of manufacture, a practically dry powder consisting of infusorial earth or other suitable vehicle charged with coloring-matter and with an oleaginous constituent.

Availing myself of the fact that coloring ingredients can thus be uniformly incorporated into the fibers and distributed superficially over the surface of fibrous material, I have applied the same process to the uniform incorporation with and distribution of a suitablem ordant over the same fibrous material, and thus have brought into juxtaposition in the same the two agents, whielj,wheu made to 'unite under proper conditions, form an insoluble and permanent dye.

My invention can be carried out best, in my opinion, by weighing out two quantities of infusorial earth or other suitable powder-vehicle sufficient for the Weight of fibrous material to be worked and dyed, and charge one of said quantities of powder with a dye-stuff or coloring agent and-an oleaginous constituent, and separately charge the other quantity of powder with any preferred and suitable mordant for such dye-stuff and an oleaginous constituent. These two quantities of powder so separatel y charged, after the volatile matters in the oil have been evaporated and the two powders rendered practically dry, are to be intimately mixed, and, in conjunction, be distributed over the cotton orwool and mechanically incorporated into the same by the several processes employed in manufacturing such fibrous material into yarns, substantially as described in the said former Letters Patent N 0. 223,019. For example, if one hundred pounds of cotton are to be colored, take fifty ounces of alizarine dye, and, after dissolving the same in water or other proper solvent, mix the color thoroughly with, say, five pounds of infusorial earth. The mass is then to be dried, and afterward to be sufficiently charged with parafline or other preferred oil, to render it adhesive to fibrous material, and, finally, the volatile constituents of the oil should be evaporated, leaving an oleaginous residuum adherin g to the molecules of the infusorial earth.

To prepare themordant-charged powder, take five pounds of infusorial earth and any suitable mordant, say fifty ounces, or enough to balance the coloring agent, of oleate of alumina. The mordant in the form of a solution, or in any other preferred and practicable way, should be intimately mixed with the earthvehicle, and the mass, if moist, should be thoroughly dried, and it will be well to charge the mixture with oil, in the same way as the colorbear'ing powder was treated, although it will not be absolutely necessary to make use of any oleaginous material, provided there bea suffioient excess of oil residuum incorporated with the color-charged earth-powder to render both powders adhesive after they have been mixed together. The two powders, prepared as above described, are now to be thoroughly combined to form one vehicle for both the coloring agent and the mordant.

Care should be taken, in the mixing of those dye-stuffs and mordants which will combine in solution to'form an insoluble compound, that all moisture be driven off from the powders before they are brought together. In some cases, however, a coloring agent and a proper mordant may be mixed at the same time with the required quantity of infusorial earth, and an oleaginous constituent be afterward added, and the mass then dried-without any bad effect upon the dye-stuff.

The powder-vehicle, which has thus been charged with the proper quantity of coloring agent or dye-stuff to produce the desired shade of color upon the fibrous material, is now ready to be dusted or scattered upon the wool or cotton to be worked, and it is afterward incorporated thoroughly with the fibrous material by the effect of the several mechanical processes employed in manufacturing the raw material into yarn, substantially as described in the said Letters Patent No. 223,019, before referred to.

Another way of applying both the dye'stuft' and the proper equivalent of mordant is to prepare the two quantities of earth -vehicle charged respectively with the coloring agent and the mordant, as hereinbefore directed, and then incorporate them separately with the fibrous material. This can be done by first partially working the wool or cotton with either one of the so charged powders until it has become uniformly distributed, and then reworking, through the same mechanical operations, the same material with the other charged powder added.

Any way of incorporating with fibrous material dry-powder vehicles charged with the necessary dye-stufi' and mordant in juxtaposition will accomplish this step in practicing my present invention.

I have not deemed it necessary to specify all the different dyeing agents, or the many different mordants suitable for the different dyestuffs, or to formulate the proportions to be used of each. All this is within the knowledge of manufacturers of colored yarns, and the particular dye-stuff or mordant for the same is a matter of practical judgment in each particular case. N o precise rule can be given for the relative proportions of coloring-matter and mordant beyond the general statement that the quantities of each, and the quantity of infusorial earth as a vehicle for the same, should be sufficient, when uniformly distributed throughout the fibers of the wool, cotton, or other fibrous material, to enable the required shade or tone of color to be obtained after the dye-stuff and the mordant have been made to unite to form an insoluble compound and true dye.

The next step in my improved process is to subject the fibrous material which has had applied to it a dye-stuff and a mordant in juxtaposition, as above described, to the action of heat, or to a steam-bath, for the purpose of causing the dyeing agent and the mordant to chemically combine and form in the material a permanent fast dye. I prefer to perform this process upon the material when in the form of yarn wound on cops; but it can, if preferred, be practiced at any other stage in the manufacture of the raw material, or after the yarn has been knit or woven into a fabric. The process of steaming yarn is well understood by manufacturers, and is generally practiced by them for softening and dressing yarns which are to be used for filling-threads in woven goods. The cops are placed in asuitable box,

and subjected in a close vessel to the action of bine, will vary with the character of the agents to so produce a fast color which are used. The same knowledge of chemicals and experience in their use which is possessed by skilled workmen in calico-printing and yarn-dye es tablishments in practicing wet dyeing will enable them to successfully work my improved process.

It will also be within my invention if the fibrous material is treated according to the instruetions hereinbefore given, with infusorial earth or other dry-powder vehicle charged with a mordant only, and then such material or yarn or fabrics made from the same be immersed in a dye-bath containing a suitable coloring agent, to complete the dyeing operation.

What I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The herein-described process of dyeing fibrous material which has previously been superficially colored by impregnation with a dry powder charged with color and an oleaginous constituent, the said process consisting in mechanically incorporating with the fibrous material during the process of manufacture a mordant, by the aid of infusorial earth or other suitable vehicle for the same, and an oleaginous constituent, and afterward causing the dyestuff and mordant to chemically combine to form a fast color by heating or steaming the material, as specified.

2. The herein-described process of dyeing fibrous material, which consists in mechanically incorporating with the fibrous material during the process of manufacture a dye-stuff and a mordant in conjunction, by the aid ot' infusorial earth or other suitable vehicle for the same, and an oleaginous constituent, and afterward causing the dyestufi' and mordant to chemically combine to form a fast color by hcatin g or steaming the material, as specified.

3. The herein-described process of dyeing fibrous material, which consists in first mechanically incorporating with the fibrous material during the process of manufacture a mordant, by the aid of infusorial earth or other suitable vehicle for the same secondly, superficially coloring the same fibrous material, by impregnating it with a dry powder charged with color and an oleaginous constituent, and, lastly, causing the mordant and the dye-stuff to chemically combine to form a fast color, by heating or steaming the material, as specified.

4. The herein-described process of coloring fibrous material, yarns, and fabrics, which con- IIO sists in mechanically incorporating with the chemically with the mordant and make a fast fibrous material durling the process of manilidye.

acture an infusoria earth or other suitab e I vehicle charged with a mordant, and subse- HENRY VAUGHAN 5 quently immersing such material or yarn or Witnesses:

fabric made from the same in a dye-bath con- W. H. THURSTON, taining a suitable coloring agent,' to combine 1. KNIGHT. 

